Sunday, April 2, 2023 Entry #67
I am genuinely surprised that it has taken me seven whole posts to write about my half-day visit to Springsteen sites on the Jersey Shore. I originally conceived all this to be summarized in one entry, maybe two. But, every post I wrote threatened to become unwieldly unless I cut it off to be continued in another, and here we are. Writing these travelogue essays have been deliriously enjoyable to me, even approximating the fun of a sunny July day on the boardwalk. However, even summer comes to an end, and it’s time to move on to all that is next as I continue to report and reflect on my Bruce Springsteen odyssey.
It only takes a very few pages in Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography “Born To Run” before he gets to Chapter Three, entitled “The Church.” The church in question, clearly an integral part of Springsteen’s upbringing, is called St. Rose of Lima in Freehold, N.J. There, Bruce Springsteen’s parents were married, Springsteen himself was baptized, attended Catholic School until 8th grade, and even served as an altar boy. St. Rose was so close to the Springsteen homestead that the young family eventually had to move out so their house could be torn down to make room for a new parking lot for the church. On my Springsteen tour, we made a stop on that very parking lot, and we talked about the church and the complicated imprint it had on Bruce Springsteen’s soul.
Springsteen describes his church experiences in rather torturous terms. It was a place he rebelled against, another institution for the tramp to run from:
“Before my grammar school education was over I’d have my knuckles classically rapped, my tie pulled ‘till I choked; be struck in the head, shut into a dark closet and stuffed into a trash can while being told this is where I belonged. All business as usual in Catholic school in the fifties.” -Bruce Springsteen’s “Born To Run”
This is also the same church that Springsteen often talks about when introducing his song “Growin’ Up” in concert. As he tells the tale, his frustrated parents sent the teenaged Springsteen to St. Rose to talk to the priest about his vocational plans, but warned their son not to bring up “that goddamn guitar” in the conversation.
At the same time, Springsteen sometimes talks in kinder terms of a childhood living, as he puts it, “in the shadow of the steeple.” He describes hearing the church bell ring, running out of his house, and excitedly witnessing the comings and goings at St. Rose. The Springsteen family had front-row seats to the life of the congregation in the form of baptisms, weddings, and funerals, and Bruce and his siblings often hurried after the congregants, picking up the fallen flowers and thrown rice on the corner of Randolph and McLean.
Moreover, though as an adult Springsteen doesn’t participate in organized religion, he does credit his imperfect Catholic upbringing for contributing to his present personal brand of spirituality. Somewhat despite himself, Springsteen still often uses metaphors, images, poetry, and stories from Catholicism in his songs. Religious themes of revelation, and especially the possibility of redemption are all over the Springsteen songbook. Springsteen says he gleans less from Jesus’ supposed divinity than from his humanity, which he understands as “God’s plan to make men and women out of us, to give us the precious gifts of earth, dirt, sweat, blood, sex, sin, goodness, freedom, captivity, love, fear, life and death…our humanity and a world of our own.” Ultimately, Springsteen writes, “I came to ruefully and bemusedly understand that once you’re a Catholic, you’re always a Catholic.”
That said, his early immersion in church life was clearly a net negative for Springsteen. In his book, Springsteen proclaims that all that Catholicism “left a mean taste in my mouth and estranged me from my religion for good.” When he left St. Rose for public school upon his eighth grade graduation, Springsteen recalled that he told himself, “Never again. I am free, free at last!”
The irony then certainly wasn’t lost on Bruce Springsteen when he did in fact return to St. Rose of Lima (in the congregation’s gymnasium around the corner) to play a benefit concert in 1996, open to Freehold residents only (1,300 lucky souls packed the place). The proceeds went to the church’s Hispanic community center. It was at this special show that Springsteen debuted a new song about his hometown called “In Freehold.” The song (the video that begins this post contains the audio from that concert at the church) nicely and humorously sums up Springsteen’s conflicting feelings about the town where he was born. It’s sentimental and sneering; big-hearted and bawdy. There is social commentary and sexual explicitness; Bruce sings about getting the hell out of Freehold, but then in the penultimate verse he describes happily taking his kids around town to show them where their dad grew up, the place “he first felt the sun on his face.” (I love that evocative phrase, I totally can remember reveling in that small ‘sun in my face’ pleasure as a kid).
I heard Springsteen play “In Freehold” for my first and only time a few years later during Bruce and the E Street Band’s “Reunion Tour.” I was living in New York City at the time, and I saw one of the 15 concerts they played in East Rutherford, N.J. in 1999. The song received a rapturous ovation from the audience, especially from all the proud New Jerseyites. When I listen to that song now, post my Jersey Shore tour, there is certainly an extra resonance because I have actually walked around Freehold, and visited some of the streets and places Springsteen name-checks in the song (the lyrics are below).
Since that concert at the church and singing “In Freehold,” Springsteen has been more of a regular in town apparently. NJ.com recently reported that Springsteen had been spotted multiple times at his “go-to” Freehold diner Roberto’s Grill, and that our man of the people had of course spent time and posed for pictures with the restaurant’s employees. The website said of its favorite son that, “The Boss frequents his hometown more than just about any rock star on Earth.” Springsteen himself talked about this phenomenon during the time that concerts were on pause due to COVID-19:
“Maybe all the writing about the past and things have brought me back a little bit, and plus maybe we’ve just been home more. I get there pretty regularly you know, whether it’s Federici’s or Jersey Freeze (both stops on our tour!), driving through or stopping and seeing a friend.”
It was time for me to catch my train out of Asbury Park. On my way to the station, I looked up at the promotional posters on the wall of The Wonder Bar, one of the many locals venues where Springsteen has jammed. I had missed seeing these advertisements while on the bus tour, but now I smiled at two exciting concerts coming up-an awesome double bill of Marshall Crenshaw and the Smithereens, and a Clarence Clemons celebration concert led by Clarence’s son Jarod (not to be confused with Clarence Clemons’ nephew Jake, who has played saxophone with Bruce and the E Street Band since the “Big Man” passed away in 2011). It was a great note for me to leave on, knowing that the live music scene (and Springsteen-influenced music at that) was still thriving on the Jersey Shore, and I made a mental note to get back here in the summertime as soon as possible!
“IN FREEHOLD” by Bruce Springsteen
I was born right here on Randolph street in Freehold
Here right behind that big red maple in Freehold
Well, I went to school right here
Got laid and had my first beer
In Freehold
Well, my folks always lived and worked right here in Freehold
I remember running up the street, past the convent to the church here in Freehold
Chase my daddy down in these bars
First fell in love with this guitar
Here in Freehold
Well, I had my first kiss at the YMCA canteen on a Friday night
Maria Espinosa tell me where are you tonight?
You were 13 but way ahead of your time
I walked home with a limp but I felt fine
That night in Freehold
Well, the girls at Freehold Regional they looked pretty fine
Had my heart broke at least half a dozen times
I wonder if they missed me, they still get the itch
Would they have dumped me if they knew I'd strike it rich?
Straight out of Freehold
Well, Tex, rest in peace, and Marion gave us kids a hand in Freehold
Georgie, we started up a little rock and roll band in freehold
But, we learned pretty quick how to rock
I'll never forget the feeling of that first 5 bucks in my pocket
That I earned in FreeholdWell, I got outta here really hard and fast in Freehold
Everybody wanted to kick my ass back there in Freehold
Well, if you were different, black or brown
It was a bit of a redneck town
Back then in Freehold
Well, something broke my daddy's back in Freehold
In '69 he left and he never come back to Freehold
'cept once he drove from California, 3000 miles in three days
Called my relatives some dirty names
And pulled straight out of Freehold
My sister had her first little baby at 17 in Freehold
Well people they can be pretty mean
Honey, you had a rough road to go, but you ain't made of nothin' but soul
I love you more than you'll ever know
We both survived Freehold
Well, my buddy Mike, well, he's the mayor now in Freehold
I remember when we used to have a lot more hair in Freehold
Well, I left and swore I'd never walk these streets again, Jack
Tonight all I can say is "holy shit, I'm back!"
Back in Freehold
Well, this summer everything was green in Freehold
Rode my kids on the fire engine through the streets of Freehold
I showed 'em where their dad was born and raised
And first felt the sun on his face
There in FreeholdWell, I still got a lot of good friends right here in town
I can usually find me a free beer somewhere
With offers of free meals I am blessed
Should I go crazy, blow all my money and ruin my life, well, at least I'll never go hungry I guess
Here in Freehold
Well, I got a good Catholic education here in Freehold
Led to an awful lot of masturbation here in Freehold
Father, it was just something I did for a smile
Hell, I still get a good one off once in a while
And dedicate it to Freehold
Don't get me wrong, I ain't puttin' anybody down
Hell, in the end it all just goes and comes around
It's one hell of a town, Freehold!
Time for me to get back to New York City where there was one more Springsteen concert to attend, ‘thunder’s rolling down the tracks!’